In Vitro Cellular Gene Delivery Employing a Novel Composite Material of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Associated With Designed Peptides With Pegylation

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) attract great interest in biomedical fields including application for drug delivery system. In this study, we developed a novel gene delivery system employing SWCNTs associated with polycationic and amphiphilic H-(-Lys-Trp-Lys-Gly-)7-OH [(KWKG)7] peptides having pegylation. SWCNTs wrapped with (KWKG)7 formed a complex with plasmid DNA (pDNA) in aqueous solution based on polyionic interaction but later underwent aggregation. On the other hand, a complex of pDNA and SWCNT-(KWKG)7 modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains of 12 units [SWCNT-(KWKG)7-(PEG)12] afforded good dispersion stability for 24 h even in a cell culture medium. The in vitro cellular uptake of SWCNT-(KWKG)7-(PEG)12/pDNA complex prepared with fluorescence-labeled pDNA was evaluated with fluorescent microscopic observation and flow cytometry. The uptake by A549 human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial cells increased along with the extent of pegylation, suggesting the importance of dispersion stability in addition to the cationic charge which facilitates ionic cellular interaction. The expression of pDNA encoding the monomeric Kusabira-Orange 2 fluorescent protein in the form of the SWCNT-(KWKG)7-(PEG)12/pDNA complex demonstrated remarkable enhancement of transfection depending also on the extent of pegylation and the N/P ratio. The potential of the SWCNT composite wrapped with polycationic and amphiphilic (KWKG)7 with pegylation as a carrier for gene delivery was demonstrated.